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Disarmament and Arms Control

Over its history QUNO has focused much of its peace-related effort on fostering disarmament negotiations at the UN, for example on chemical and nuclear weapons. By the mid-1990s QUNO also recognised that tremendous damage to communities and societies was being done by conventional weapons, particularly small arms and landmines, and worked to raise awareness of this problem and seek effective ways to tackle it at international level.

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Former QUNO Director David Atwood, who retired in 2011, presented the Backhouse Lecture at Australia Yearly Meeting describing his work seeking disarmament and peace at the UN over many years. We are grateful to Australian Quakers for making available the book published to accompany his lecture.

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As a founding member of the Geneva Forum, QUNO attended the first public event of the new Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Network. The ATT Network was launched in 2013 by the Geneva Forum and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy as a platform to exchange information, provide practical guidance on the implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty and develop networks among implementation actors and communities.

The event was attended by 60 participants in Geneva, and brought together NGOs, IGOs, mission delegates and UN experts to coordinate activities related to the promotion of the treaty and its implementation. During this event, Diane Hendrick moderated the concluding discussion, identifying areas for priority attention in the course of the following months.

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In November, QUNO chaired an event of the Geneva Forum entitled New Warfare Challenges: Drone Operations and Protection of Civilians. Moderated by Diane Hendrick, QUNO’s Representative for Peace and Disarmament, the panel consisted of Baher Amzy from the Centre for Constitutional Rights and Kate Hofstra from Every Casualty Worldwide led the discussions.

The discussion addressed the effects on communities of living under sustained drone presence and how the fear of becoming the next victim of a drone strike affects people’s willingness to attend cultural events, public gatherings or even school. Impacts include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, stress, emotional breakdowns, and physical ailments that that can also have long term effects on societies as well as individuals. In addition, lack of transparency in the use of drones presents a significant obstacle to measuring the civilian impact of drone strikes and issues relating to casualty recording were also discussed at the event.

The panel attracted over 60 State and NGO representatives to address these underexplored issues.

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In this video, excerpted from a longer film shown at the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) World Plenary Meeting held in Peru in January 2016, Diane Hendrick explains the work of our Peace & Disarmament programme.

The Peace and Disarmament programme grows out of a long Quaker history of working for peace, understanding that this means more than the absence of overt violence and has fundamentally to do with social and economic justice and political participation. Where these are denied, the roots of violence can be found.